Revisiting Kendrick Lamar’s Juneteenth ‘Pop Out’ Live performance

One yr in the past at present, (June nineteenth) the world watched as Kendrick Lamar carried out for the primary time since his public feud with Drake. Proceed studying to refresh your reminiscence and see how everybody reacted to the epic night time!

Except you reside below a rock, you realize that final yr the hip hop group was enthralled with the meat between rap giants Kendrick Lamar and Drake. The 2 Grammy Award-winners traded scathing photographs forwards and backwards for nearly a month and left followers on either side defending their goats. After a lot debate, public opinion topped Kendrick the winner, particularly after the discharge of the observe “Not Like Us.” The DJ Mustard produced music hit primary on the Billboard Scorching 100 upon its launch and spent the higher a part of the final yr occupying the chart. As soon as the meat died down a bit, followers started to marvel what can be subsequent. A video? A remix? Each?

As a substitute, Kendrick, who simply had celebrated his thirty seventh birthday two days prior, blessed his followers with one thing a lot better, a one-off live performance entitled The Pop Out – Ken and Mates in Los Angeles on Juneteenth. Unsurprisingly, virtually as quickly as tickets for The Pop Out launched, they offered out. Naturally, the demand for tickets was so excessive that everybody wasn’t in a position to buy them. For all of those that weren’t fortunate sufficient to grab up tickets to attend in individual, the live performance additionally live-streamed on Prime Video and the Amazon Music channel on Twitch. Even earlier than followers stepped into The Discussion board, the environment at The Pop Out, which was introduced by pgLang and Free Lunch, was electrical. It was a celebration exterior as followers waited for doorways to open. Whereas individuals waited round, there have been a number of merchandise stands, meals and beverage stations and picture ops for them to hit up. On prime of that, courtesy of HeadCount, there was a voter registration station, encouraging attendees to vote in November.

As entertained as followers would possibly’ve been exterior, it was nothing in comparison with the present they have been blessed with as soon as they stepped inside The Discussion board. The extremely anticipated live performance started with a set from Actual 92.3 FM’s DJ Hed. He introduced out a large number of established and up and coming West Coast artists together with Remble, Westside Boogie, Kalan.Frfr, BlueBucksClan, CUZZOS, Bino Rideaux and lots of extra. Legendary Compton, California dancer Tommy the Clown even stepped out to take followers down reminiscence lane with a particular efficiency alongside his TSquad dancers. Hed’s set was an important introduction to a number of the rising expertise in California and an ideal warmup for what went on to be an absolute epic night time.

The live performance was titled The Pop Out, which was a play on one of many lyrics in “Not Like Us.” What higher technique to proceed the night time than by having the producer of the smash hit grace the stage? That’s proper. DJ Mustard was subsequent to impress the gang with an impeccable set. Along with enjoying a few of his personal largest hits, the Los Angeles native used his star energy to convey out a number of the famous person artists he’s labored with all through his illustrious profession. Earlier than Mustard exited the stage, West Coast staples Ty Dolla $ign, Dom Kennedy, YG and Roddy Ricch and extra carried out a few of their large slaps in entrance of a packed home. The roof of the constructing virtually blew off when Tyler, The Creator stunned everybody and blazed the stage. In probably the most heartwarming moments of the night time, Mustard paid tribute to the late legendary rapper Nipsey Hussle. He had followers in attendance elevate their telephones and switch their digital camera lights on whereas he performed three of Nip’s songs.

Even when the present ended after Mustard’s set, it could’ve been thought of basic. Fortunately, the primary occasion was nonetheless on deck. After a quick intermission, the person of the hour popped out from the underside of the stage and began his present in a manner that solely he may. The primary music in Kendrick’s set was his six minute 24 second Drake diss observe, “Euphoria.” The gang rapped the entire music phrase for phrase as Kendrick set the tone for what the remainder of his efficiency can be like. After the exhilarating introduction, Cornrow Kenny carried out a plethora of his classics together with, “DNA,” “Factor,” “Alright,” “Swimming Swimming pools” and extra. Nostalgia hit an all-time excessive when Kendrick introduced out Jay Rock, Ab-Soul and Schoolboy Q to carry out a few of their largest tracks collectively. The reunion was really a particular second because it marked the primary time Black Hippy had been seen collectively since Kendrick left TDE (High Dawg Leisure) in 2022. After Kendrick dipped into his catalog to carry out some extra of his timeless bangers and his controversial “Like That” verse, he introduced out one among his mentors and one of many West’s most legendary musicians, Dr. Dre. To the delight of the gang, Dre carried out the simple basic tracks “Nonetheless D.R.E” and “California Love” with help from Kendrick.

As Dre was about to exit the stage, Kendrick questioned if he was going to say the rest earlier than they continued the celebration. This prompted Dre to stroll again, quiet the gang and whisper “I see lifeless individuals” into the mic. Each single individual within the crowd and watching at residence knew precisely what that meant. For the primary time ever, Kendrick started performing the music of the summer season. The gang utterly exploded as they screamed the lyrics to the music on the prime of their lungs. The music’s influence change into increasingly obvious as Kendrick carried out it 4 extra occasions. Every time the observe restarted, it appeared as if the gang obtained louder and louder. Probably the most impactful factor that came about throughout the entire night time occurred earlier than the fifth efficiency of the chart-topping diss observe. Kendrick introduced up the entire artists who had carried out all through the night time (no matter their gang affiliations) and obtained them to take an image collectively on stage. “Allow them to see this. We put this along with peace.” Kendrick mentioned to the gang. After the image, it appeared as if the entire West Coast music scene was on the stage performing “Not Like Us” in probably the most lovely and necessary moments in current hip hop historical past.

The Pop Out – Ken and Mates was a deserved victory lap for Kendrick and a a lot wanted uniter for the West Coast and town of Los Angeles in particular. All through the present and after, followers couldn’t assist however to chime in and provides their opinions of the night time, Kendrick, Drake and all the things in between. One yr later, take a look at a number of the reactions to the largest live performance of final yr!

In Case You Forgot: Revisiting Kendrick Lamar & ‘The Pop Out’ Live performance One 12 months Later 
was initially revealed on
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